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THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 

OF  CALIFORNIA 

LOS  ANGELES 

IN  MEMORY  OF 
EDWIN  CORLE 


PRESENTED  BY 
JEAN  CORLE 


ELECTRA 


Digitized  by  tine  Internet  Arciiive 

in  2007  witii  funding  from 

IVIicrosoft  Corporation 


littp://www.arGliive.org/details/eleGtratragedyinOOIiofmiala 


ELECTRA 

A   TRAGEDY    IN    ONE    ACT 

BY 

HUGO  VON  HOFMANNSTHAL 

TKANSLATED   BY 

ARTHUR    SYMONS 


i 

NEW  YORK 
BRENTANO'S  | 

1908  ; 


Copyright,  1908 
Bt    BaSKTAKO's 


THS  tJHITUtSrrT  PBBSS,  OllCBBIDOB,  V.  S.  ▲. 


CJollege 
Library 

DRAMATIS  PERSONAE 


CLYTEMNESTRA 
ELECTRA  ] 

y  Her  davghters 

CHRYSOTHEMIS    j 

AEGISTHUS 

ORESTES 

THE    FOSTER    FATHER    OF    ORESTES 

THE    WAITING    WOMAN 

THE    TRAIN    BEARER 

A   YOUNG   SERVING   MAN 

AN    OLD    SERVING    MAN 

THE    COOK 

THE    OVERSEER   OF   THE   SERVING   WOMEN 

THE   SERVING   WOMEN 


ELECTRA 


The  scene  represents  the  i/nner  court,  hounded  hy 
the  back  of  the  Palace  and  hy  low  buildings  in  which 
the  Servants  live. 

SERVING  WOMEN  at  the  draw-well,  vn  front  on 
the  left.    ovERSEEES  among  them. 

piBST  SERVING  WOMAN,  raising  her  pitcher 
Where  does  Electra  bide? 

SECOND    SERVING    WOMAN 

It  is  her  hour, 
The  hour  when  she  cries  out  upon  her  father. 
Till  all  the  walls  ring  with  it. 

[electra  comes  running  out  of  the  door 
of  the  inner  halt,  which  is  already  dark. 
ALL  turn  towards  her.  She  springs  back 
like  a  wild  beast  into  its  lair,  one  arm  before 
her  face. 

FIRST    SERVING    WOMAN 

Did  you  see  how  she  stared  upon  us? 

SECOND    SERVING    WOMAN 

Spiteful 
She  is,  as  a  wild  cat. 

[  ^   ] 


ELECTRA 

THI&D    8EEVING    WOMAN 

Just  now  she  lay 


And  groaned  — 


FIEST    SEEYINO    WOMAN 

She  always  lies  and  groans  like  that 
When  the  sun  's  low. 


THIRD    SESVING    WOMAN 

And  then  we  went  too  far 
And  came  too  close  to  her. 

FIKST    SEKVING    WOMAN 

She  cannot  stand  it 
If  one  but  merely  looks  at  her. 

THIRD    SERVING    WOMAN 

We  came 
Too  close  to  her.    Then  she  screeched  out  like  a  cat 
Upon  us :  "  OflF,  you  flies,  begone !  "  she  cried. 

FOURTH    SEEYINO    WOMAK 

"  Muck-flies,  begone !  " 

THIRD    SERVING    WOMAN 

"  Settle  not  on  my  wounds !  " 
And  struck  out  at  us  with  a  wisp  of  straw. 

[  8  ] 


ELECTRA 

FOURTH    SERVING    WOMAN 

"  Muck-flies,  begone !  " 

THIRD    SERVING    WOMAN 

"  You  shall  not  feed  upon 
The  sweetness  of  the  torment.  You  shall  not  snatch 
The  foam  from  off  my  agony." 

FOURTH    SERVING    WOMAN 

**  Crawl  away !  " 
She  cried  upon  us.    "  Eat  sweet  and  eat  fat. 
And  sneak  to  bed,  you  and  your  men,"  cried  she. 
And  you  — 

THIRD    SERVING    WOMAN 

I  was  not  idle  — 

FOURTH    SERVING    WOMAN 

Gave  her  her  answer. 

THIRD    SERVING   WOMAN 

Yes :  "  If  you  're  hungry,"  was  my  answer  to  her, 
"  So  do  you  too  " ;  then  leapt  she  and  shot  out 
A  horrid  scowl,  and  crooked  her  finger  at  us 
Like  a  big  claw,  and  cried :  "  I  feed,"  she  cried, 
"  A  vulture  in  my  body !  " 

SECOND    SERVING    WOMAN 

What  did  you  say? 
[9  ] 


ELECTRA 

THIED    SEEVING    WOMAN 

**That  *s  why,"  I  gave  her  back,  "you  always  squat 
Where  carrion  's  to  be  smelt,  and  why  you  scratch 
After  a  long-dead  body ! " 

SECOND    SlSEVING    WOMAN 

What  did  she  say? 

THIED    SEEVING    WOMAN 

She  only  screamed  and  cast 
Back  to  her  comer. 

[they  have  finished  drawing  the  water, 

FIEST    SEEVING    WOMAN 

That  the  Queen  should  let 

This  sort  of  demon  free  in  house  and  court 

To  live  there  as  it  likes  her ! 

SECOND    SEEVING    WOMAN 

Her  own  child ! 

PIEST    SEEVING    WOMAN 

Were  she  my  child,  by  God,  I  *d  put  her  soon 
Safe  under  bolt  and  bar. 

POUETH    SEEVING    WOMAN 

Do  you  not  think 
They  are  hard  enough  on  her?    Do  they  not  set 

[  10  ] 


ELECTRA 

Her  platter  with  the  dogs?    {In  a  low  voice.) 

Have  you  not  seen 
The  master  strike  her? 

FIFTH  SERVING  WOMAN,  o  quite  youTig  One, 
with  a  tremulous,  sensitive  voice 

Surely  I  will  cast 
Myself  before  her,  I  will  kiss  her  feet. 
Is  she  not  a  king's  daughter,  and  endures 
So  sore  an  outrage !    Surely  I  will  anoint 
Her  feet  and  I  will  wipe  them  with  my  hair. 

OVERSEEE 

In  with  you!    {Pushes  her.) 

FIFTH    SERVING    WOMAN 

There  is  nothing  in  the  world 
So  royal  as  she  is.     She  lies  in  rags 
Upon  the  threshold,  ay,  but  there  is  none  {she 

shouts). 
None  in  the  house  that  can  endure  to  look 
Into  her  eyes. 

OVERSEER 

In  with  you !    {Pushes  her  in  through  the  open  door 
toL.) 

FIFTH  SERVING  WOMAN,  cought  in  the  door 

You  are  not  worthy 
To  breathe  the  air  she  breathes.    Would  I  could  see 

[  11   ] 


ELECTRA  I 

The  lot  of  you  strung  up  here  by  the  neck 

In  any  dark  old  granary,  for  all  this  ^ 

You  have  done  here  to  Electra! 

ovESSEEB,  shuts  the  door  and  sets  her  back  \ 

against  it 

Do  you  hear  that? 
We,  to  Electra?    When  they  bade  her  sit 
And  eat  with  us,  she  thrust  her  bowl  away, 
She  spat  upon  us,  and  she  called  us  dogs. 

FIRST    SERVING    WOMAN 

Eh !  what  she  said  was :   there  is  not  any  dog 
A  man  could  make  so  abject;   and  that  we 
With  water,  always  with  fresh  water,  wash 
The  eternal  blood  of  murder  from  the  floor. 

THIRD    SERVING    WOMAN 

And  that  we  sweep  the  offence,  she  said,  the  offence 
That  comes  again,  day  by  day,  night  by  night, 
Into  its  comer. 

FIRST    SERVING    WOMAN  ^ 

And  our  bodies,  cried  she, 
Stiffen  to  the  dirt  we  are  in  bondage  to. 

[^Thet/  carry  their  pitchers  into  the  house 
toL. 

OVERSEER,  who  has  fastened  the  door  after  them 

And  if  she  sees  us  with  our  children :  nought. 
Nought  can  be  so  accursed,  she  cries  on  us, 

[  12  ]  i 


ELECTRA 

As  children,  we  have  littered  in  this  house, 
Slipping  in  blood  upon  the  stairs  like  dogs. 
Did  she  say  this  or  not  ? 

SEEViNG  WOMEN,  tvithin 
Yes,  yes! 

ONE,  from  withm 

They  strike  me! 
[^The  ovEKSEER  goes  in, 

[electea  comes  out  of  the  house.  She  is 
alone  with  the  red  flicJcerings  of  light  which 
fall  through  the  branches  of  the  fig-trees 
and  drop  like  blood-stains  on  the  ground 
and  on  the  walls. 

ELECTBA 

Alone !    Woe  's  me,  alone !    My  father  gone, 
Thrust    down    in   his    cold   pit.      {Towards    the 

ground. ) 
Where  are  you,  father?    Have  you  not  the  strength 
To  lift  your  face  and  look  on  me  again? 
It  is  the  hour,  father,  it  is  our  hour ; 
The  hour  when  these  two  slaughtered  you,  your  wife 
And  he  who  lay  in  the  same  bed  with  her, 
Your  kingly  bed.    They  struck  you  in  your  bath. 
Dead:   and  your  blood  ran  over  both  your  eyes. 
And  all  the  bed  steamed  with  the  blood ;  then  he. 
The  coward,  took  you  by  your  shoulders,  dragged 
you 

[  13  ] 


ELECTRA 

Out  of  the  room,  head  foremost,  and  both  legs 
After  it  trailing ;  and  your  eyes,  wide  open, 
Staring  behind  them,  saw  into  the  house. 
Thus  you  return,  and  set  {she  sees  him)  foot  before 

foot. 
And  suddenly  you  are  here,  with  both  your  eyes 
Wide  open,  and  a  royjal  diadem 
Of  purple  is  about  your  brow,  and  feeds 
Upon  the  open  wound  there.    Father !  I  will 
See  you :  O,  leave  me  not  to-day  alone, 
Were  it  no  more  than  yesterday,  come  back, 
A  shadow  in  yonder  comer,  to  your  child ! 
Father,  your  day  will  come.    Time  is  cast  down 
By  the  sure  stars,  so  surely  shall  the  blood 
Out  of  a  hundred  throats  cast  down  your  grave 
As  from  a  pitcher  spilt  upon  the  ground 
It  streams  out  of  the  shackled  murderers 
And  round  the  naked  bodies  of  their  helpers, 
Like  marble  pitchers,  all,  women  and  men ; 
And  in  one  wave,  in  one  wide  swollen  stream, 
Shall  their  life's  life  gush  out  of  them ;  and  we 
Will  slaughter  your  horses  for  you  and  gather  them 
About  your  grave,  and  they  shall  snuff  up  death 
And  neigh  in  the  wind  of  death,  and  die ;  and  we 
Will  slaughter  the  dogs  for  you,  because  the  dogs 
Are  htter  of  the  litter  of  that  pack 
That  hunted  with  you,  and  would  lick  your  feet 
And  you  would  cast  them  morsels ;  therefore  must 
Their  blood  be  shed  for  you,  and  we,  your  blood, 
Your  son  Orestes  and  your  daughters,  we 
These  three,  when  all  is  done,  and  there  arises 
Canopied  purple  from  your  streaming  blood. 
The  sun  sucks  upward,  then  we  three,  your  blood, 
[  14  ] 


ELECTRA 

Will  dance  about  your  grave ;  and  I  will  lift 
Knee  after  knee  above  the  heap  of  dead 
Step  by  step  higher,  and  all  who  see  me  dance. 
Yea,  all  who  see  my  shadow  from  afar 
Dancing,  shall  say:   Behold  how  great  a  king 
Here  holds  high  festival  of  his  flesh  and  blood, 
And  happy  is  he  about  whose  mighty  grave 
His  children  dance  so  royal  a  dance  of  triumph! 

[cHRYSOTHEMis,     the     yowngev     sistery 

stands  in  the  doorway  of  the  inner  court. 

She  looks  anxiously  at  electea,  and  calls 

softly. 


CHRYSOTHEMIS 

Electra ! 

[electra  turns  round,  like  a  night-wan- 
derer, who  hears  his  name  called.  She  stag- 
gers. Her  eyes  look  about  her  as  if  she  saw 
nothing  as  it  was.  Her  face  distorts  as 
she  sees  the  anxious  look  of  her  sister. 
CHRYSOTHEMIS  stands  squeezed  vn  the 
door. 


ELECTBA 

Ah,  the  face ! 

CHRYSOTHEMIS 

Is  my  face  then 


So  hateful  to  you? 

[  15  ] 


ELECTRA 


ELECTEA 


What  do  you  want?    Speak  out, 
Say  it,  empty  it  all,  then  go  away 
And  leave  me. 

[cHEYsoTHEMis  puts  up  her  hauds  as  if 

to  ward  off  a  blow. 


EXECTEA 

Why  do  you  lift  up  your  hands? 
So  lifted  up  our  father  both  his  hands 
When  the  axe  fell  on  them  and  clove  his  flesh. 
What  do  you  want,  daughter  of  my  mother? 

CHEYSOTHEMIS 

They  are  about  to  do  some  dreadful  thing. 


Both  women? 


ELECTEA 
CHEYSOTHEMIS 

Who? 

ELECTEA 

Why,  one  of  them  's  my  mother, 
And  there  *s  that  other  woman,  the  coward  one. 
The  valiant  murder-monger,  why,  iEgisthus, 
The  doer  of  heroic  deeds,  in  bed. 
What  are  they  going  to  do  ? 

[  16  ] 


ELECTRA 

CHEYSOTHEMIS 

To  shut  you  up 
In  a  dark  tower,  where  you  would  never  see 
The  light  of  sun  or  moon. 

[eI/ECtra  laughs. 
They  will,  I  know, 
For  I  have  heard  it. 

ELECTRA 

I  seem  to  have  heard  it  too. 
Was  it  not  said  when  the  last  dish  went  round 
At  table?    Then  he  is  wont  to  raise  his  voice 
And  brag  about  his  bravery,  and,  I  wager, 
'T  is  good  for  his  digestion. 

CHBYSOTHEMIS 

Not  at  table 
He  did  not  brag  about  it.    He  and  she 
Spoke  of  it  all  alone. 

ELECTRA 

Alone.?  how  then 
Could  you  have  heard  it.? 

CHEYSOTHEMIS 

At  the  door,  Electra. 

ELECTRA 

Let  there  be  no  doors  opened  in  this  house ! 
Laboring     breath,      pah!     and     the      gasp      of 
strangling : 

[  n  ] 


ELECTRA 

There  *s  nothing  in  these  rooms  but  that.    Let  be 
The  door,  when  there  's  a  groaning  heard  within. 
It  cannot  be  that  they  are  always  kilHng, 
Sometimes  they  are  alone  together,  even ! 
Open  no  doors  here.    Do  not  prowl  about. 
Sit  on  the  ground,  like  me,  and  wish  for  death. 
And  judgment  upon  her  and  upon  him. 

CHBYSOTHEMIS 

I  cannot  sit  and  stare  into  the  dark, 
As  you  do ;  there  is  a  fire  within  my  breast 
That  drives  me  all  about  the  house,  and  not 
A  room  is  tolerable  to  me,  but  I  from  one 
To  another  threshold  must  go  up,  go  down ; 
Each  seems  to  call  to  me,  and  as  I  come. 
An  empty  room  stares  back  at  me.     I  have 
So  sore  a  torment  in  me  that  my  knees 
Shake  under  me  by  day  and  night,  my  throat 
Is  tightened  and  I  cannot  even  weep. 
All  turns  to  stone.    Sister,  have  pity! 


ELECTKA 


CHBYSOTHEMIS 


On  whom? 


You  it  is  who  have  welded  me  to  the  ground 
With  iron  clamps.    If  it  were  not  for  you 
They  would  have  let  us  out.     But  for  your  hate, 
Your  sleepless  and  immitigable  mind. 
That  makes  them  tremble,  they  would  have  let  us 

out. 
Out  of  this  prison,  sister !    I  will  go  out. 
[  18  ] 


ELECTRA 

I  will  not  sleep  here  every  night  till  death, 

And  I  will  live  before  I  come  to  die, 

I  will  bear  children,  ere  my  body  withers, 

And  though  they  mate  me  with  a  peasant,  yet 

I  will  bear  him  children,  and  warm  them  with  my 

body 
In  the  cold  night  when  storms  are  on  the  hut. 
But  this  will  I  endure  no  more,  to  herd 
With  menials,  being  no  kin  of  theirs,  shut  in 
With  very  pangs  of  death  by  day  and  night. 
Do  you  hear  me,  sister !    Speak ! 


ELECTBA 

Poor  creature! 

CHETSOTHEMIS 

Nay! 
Have  pity  on  yourself  and  me.     Who  profits, 
Electra,  from  this  anguish?    Not  our  father. 
Our  father  is  dead.     Our  brother  does  not  come. 
You  see  that  all  this  time  he  does  not  come. 
Time  graves  its  token  on  your  face  and  mine 
Day  after  day,  and,  there,  without,  the  sun 
Rises  and  sets  and  women  I  have  known 
When  they  were  slender  are  now  big  with  blessing, 
And  at  the  well  can  scarcely  lift  their  jars; 
Then,  in  a  little,  their  burdens  being  off. 
Come  to  the  well  again,  and  out  of  them 
Runs  a  sweet  draught,  and  on  them  sucks  and 

hangs 
A  young  life,  and  they  see  their  children  grow ; 
But  we  sit  all  alone  upon  our  perch 
[  19  ] 


ELECTRA 

Like  captive  birds,  and  turn  our  heads  to  left 
And  right,  and  no  man  comes,  no  brother  comes. 
No  news  of  any  brother,  and  no  news 
Of  any  news,  nothing.     Better  be  dead 
Than  living  and  not  live.    No,  no,  I  am 
A  woman,  and  I  would  have  a  woman's  lot. 

£L£CTBA 

Shame  on  the  thought  of  it,  shame  to  speak  of  it! 
To  be  the  hollow  where  the  murderer 
After  the  murder  takes  his  rest ;   to  play 
The  beast  that  one  may  give  a  worse  beast  pleasure ! 
She  slept  with  one,  ah,  and  she  laid  her  breast 
Across  his  eyes,  and  nodded  to  another 
That  from  behind  the  bed  with  axe  and  net 
Crept  out. 

CHEYSOTHEMIS 

You  are  too  horrible,  Electra ! 


EI.ECTEA 

Why  am  I  horrible.?    Are  you  such  a  woman? 
You  will  become  one. 


CHEYSOTHEMIS 

Can  you  not  forget? 
My  head  is  all  a  void.     I  can  remember 
Nothing  out  of  day  until  to-morrow. 
Sometimes  I  lie  so,  then  am  I  again 
What  I  was  once,  and  cannot  make  out  why 
[  20  ] 


ELECTRA 

I  am  no  longer  young.    Where  is  it  all? 

This  is  not  water,  that  runs  always  past, 

This  is  no  thread  which  on  the  shuttle  flies, 

Hither  and  thither,  it  is  I,  yes,  I. 

I  would  fain  pray  some  god  to  set  a  light 

Within  my  breast  that  I  might  find  myself 

Again  within  me.    Were  I  but  away 

How  soon  would  I  forget  all  these  bad  dreams ! 


ELECTRA 

Forget.''  what,  am  I  then  a  beast.?  Forget? 
The  beast  will  fall  to  sleep,  within  its  mouth 
Its  prey  half  eaten ;  the  beast  forgets  itself 
And  sets  a-chewing  while  death  throttles  it; 
The  beast  forgets  what  came  out  of  its  body 
And  stays  its  hunger  on  its  young;  but  I, 
I  am  no  beast,  and  I  cannot  forget. 


CHUYSOTHEMIS 

O  must  my  soul  forever  on  this  food 
Be  fed,  this  food  it  loathes,  it  loathes  so  much 
It  shudders  at  the  smell  of  it;   this  food 
It  should  not  ever  touch,  nor  ever  know 
That  there  was  anything  so  full  of  horror; 
Not  see  it  with  the  eyes,  not  hearken  to  it. 
This  terror  is  too  dreadful  for  men's  hearts. 
When  it  draws  near  to  us  and  takes  hold  on  us, 
Then  must  we  flee  away  into  the  houses, 
Into  the  vineyards,  up  into  the  hills, 
And  if  it  follow  us  into  the  hills 
We  must  come  down  and  burrow  in  the  houses ; 
[  21  ] 


ELECTRA 

Not  dare  abide  with  it,  not  be  with  it 

In  the  same  house.    I  will  go,  I  will  go  away, 

I  will  conceive  and  I  will  bring  forth  children. 

That  shall  know  nothing  of  it,  I  will  wash 

My  body  in  that  water,  plunge  deep,  deep 

My  body  in  that  water,  wash  all  over. 

Wash  clean  both  my  eye-sockets ;    they  shall  not 

fear 
When  they  look  up  into  their  mother's  eyes. 

ELECTS. A,  scornfully 

When  they  look  up  into  their  mother's  eyes ! 
How  will  you  look  our  father  in  the  eyes? 


CH&YSOTHEMIB 

stop! 

ELECTRA 

May  your  children,  when  you  have  them,  do 
So  unto  you  as  you  unto  our  father. 

[CHEYSOTHEMIS    CrieS    OUt. 

Why  do  you  cry?    Gret  in.    Your  place  is  there. 
I  hear  a  noise.     Is  it  your  wedding-feast 
They  set  in  order?     I  can  hear  them  running. 
Why,  the  whole  house  is  up.     They  are  in  birth- 
pangs 
Or  at  a  murder.    They  must  be  at  a  murder 
When  they  have  no  dead  body  for  a  bed. 

CHRYSOTHEMIS 

stop!     That  is  past  and  over. 
[  22  ] 


ELECTRA 

ELECTRA 

Past  and  over? 
They  fall  to  some  new  matter  there  within. 
Do  you  think  I  do  not  know  the  sound  when  bodies 
Are  trailed  upon  the  stairs,  and  there  is  whispering 
And  wringing  out  of  cloths  that  drop  with  blood? 

CHEYSOTHEMIS 

Sister,  let  us  begone  from  here. 

ELECTRA 

This  time 
I  will  be  by,  and  not  as  I  was  then. 
I  am  strong  this  time.     I  will  cast  myself 
Upon  her,  wrest  the  axe  out  of  her  hand, 
Swing  the  axe  over  her  — 

CHEYSOTHEMIS 

Go,  hide  yourself, 
Lest  she  should  see  you.     Do  not  cross  her  path 
To-day.     She  scatters  death  in  every  glance. 
She  has  been  dreaming. 

[^The  noise  of  many  people  approaching 
comes  nearer. 

Go  away  from  here, 
Go,  they  are  coming  through  the  corridor. 
They   are   coming  by   this   way.      She   has   been 

dreaming ; 
I  know  not  what,  I  heard  it  from  her  women, 
I  do  not  know,  sister,  if  it  is  true; 
They  say  she  has  been  dreaming  of  Orestes, 
[  23  ] 


ELECTRA 

And  that  she  has  been  crying  in  her  sleep, 
As  one  cries  out  beinsr  stransrled. 


ELECTEA 

It  is  I, 

I,  that  have  sent  him  to  her.    From  my  breast 
I  sent  the  dream  to  her.     I  lie  and  hear 
The  feet  of  him  who  follows  her.     I  hear 
His  feet  go  through  the  room,  I  hear  him  lift 
The  curtain  of  the  bed;   crying,  she  leaps  forth, 
But  he  is  after  her;   and  down  the  stairs 
Through  vault  and  vault  and  vault  the  hunt  goes 

on. 
It  is  much  darker  now  than  night,  and  much 
Darker  and  much  more  quiet  than  the  grave; 
She  pants  and  staggers  in  the  darkness,  yet 
He  is  still  after  her ;  he  shakes  the  torch 
On  this  side  and  on  that  side  of  the  axe. 
And  I  am  hke  a  hound  upon  her  heels ; 
And  if  she  seeks  a  hole  I  spring  upon  her 
Sideways,  and  so  we  drive  her  on  and  on 
Till  a  wall  shuts  upon  us,  and  there,  deep 
In  that  dense  darkness  (yet  I  see  him  there, 
A  shadow,  and  his  limbs  and  eyeballs)  sits 
Our  father,  and  he  heeds  not,  yet  it  must 
Be  done;   we  drive  her  in  before  his  feet; 
Then  falls  the  axe. 

[Torches  and  figuees  fill  the  corridor  to 
L.  of  door. 

CHEY80THEMIS 

They  are  here  already,  and  she  drives  her  women 
Before  her,  all  with  torches,  and  they  drag 
[  24  ] 


ELECTRA 

Beasts  with  them  and  the  sacrificial  knife. 
She  is  most  deadly,  sister,  when  she  trembles, 
As  she  does  now.     O  do  not  cross  her  path 
For  this  one  day,  only  for  this  one  hour ! 

ELECTRA 

I  have  a  mind  to  speak  now  with  my  mother 

As  I  have  never  spoken. 

[Against  the  hrightly  lighted  corridor 
shuffles  and  clatters  a  hurrying  proces- 
sion. There  is  a  tugging  and  hauling  of 
beasts,  a  smothered  chiding,  a  quickly 
stifled  cry,  the  swish  of  a  whip,  a  pulling 
back  and  staggering  forward. 

CHBYSOTHEMIS 

I  will  not  hear  it. 
l^She  goes  in  through  the  door  of  the  court. 
[cLYTEMNESTRA  appears  in  the  wide 
window.  In  the  glare  of  the  torches  her 
sallow  and  bloated  face  looks  whiter  above 
her  scarlet  dress.  She  leans  on  her  wait- 
ing WOMAN,  who  is  dressed  in  dark  violet, 
and  on  an  ivory  staff  incrusted  with  pre- 
cious stones.  A  yellow  figure  with  dark 
hair  combed  back,  like  an  Egyptian,  and  a 
smooth  face  like  an  erect  snake,  bears  her 
train.  The  queen  is  bedecked  all  over 
with  precious  stones  and  talismans.  Her 
arms  are  covered  by  bracelets,  her  fingers 
glitter  with  rings.  Her  eyelids  seem  un- 
naturally heavy,  and  she  seems  to  keep  them 
[  25  ] 


ELECTRA 

open  with  a  great  effort.  EiiECTUA  stands 
rigid  and  still,  her  face  turned  towards  the 
window.  CLYTEMNESTRA  Suddenly  opens 
her  eyes  and,  trembling  with  anger,  goes  to 
the  window  and  points  with  her  staff  at 

ELECT&A. 

ciiYTEMNESTRA,  at  the  window 

What  do  you  want?     See  it  now,  how  it  rears 

Its  swollen  neck  and  darts  its  tongue  at  me! 

See  what  I  have  let  loose  in  my  own  house. 

If  she  could  only  kill  me  with  her  eyes ! 

O  Gods,  why  do  ye  weigh  on  me  so  sore, 

Why  do  ye  waste  me  so  intolerably? 

Why  must  my  strength  be  sacrificed  in  me?    Why 

Is  this  my  hving  body  like  a  field 

Wasted  with  weeds,  and  nettles  grow  in  it, 

And  I  have  not  the  strength  to  pluck  them  up? 

Why  is  this  done  to  me,  immortal  gods? 

ELECTEA 

The  gods !  but  are  you  not  yourself  a  goddess? 
You  are  as  they  are. 


CLYTEMNESTEA  \ 

Do  you  understand  \ 

What  she  is  saying?  \ 

I 

WAITING    WOMAN  \ 

That  you  also  are  of 

The  seed  of  gods.  \ 
[  26  ] 


ELECTRA 

TEAIN  BEAEER,  wMsperS 

She  meant  it  knavishly. 

CLYTEMNESTBA,  dropping  her  heavy  eyelids 

It  sounds  familiar,  and  like  a  thing 
Forgotten  long  ago.     She  knows  me  well, 
Yet  what  she  harbors  in  her  no  man  knows. 

\_The     WAITING     WOMAN     and     train 

BEABEK    whisper    together. 

ELECTRA 

You  are  yourself  no  longer.    Reptiles  hang 
Upon  you,  what  they  hiss  into  your  ear 
Sunders  your  thought  within  you,  and  you  fall 
Into  an  ecstasy,  and  always  now 
You  are  as  in  a  dream. 

CliYTEMNESTRA 

I  will  go  down. 
Leave  me,  for  I  will  speak  with  her.    To-day 
She  is  not  so  curst.     She  speaks  like  a  physician. 
The  hours  have  all  things  mortal  in  their  hand. 
In  everything  one  aspect  may  be  found 
Bearable  even  in  things  least  bearable. 

l^She  leaves  the  window  and  comes  to  the 
door,  the  waiting  woman  hy  her  side, 
the  TRAIN  BEARER  behind  her,  torches  he- 
hind  them. 
(From  the  threshold.)  Why  did  you  call  me  a 
goddess.''     Did  you  say  it 

[  27  ] 


ELECTRA 

In  malice?    Have  a  care.    This  day  may  be 
The  last  when  you  shall  ever  see  the  hght 
Of  day  and  breathe  in  freely  the  free  air. 

ELECTBA 

If  you  are  not  a  goddess,  of  a  truth, 

Who  are  the  gods?    There  is  nothing  in  the  world 

That  fills  me  with  such  shuddering  as  to  think 

That  body  the  dark  door  through  which  I  crept 

Into  the  light  of  the  world.    Have  I  then  lain 

Naked  upon  that  lap,  and  to  that  breast 

Have  you  indeed  lifted  me?    Then  have  I 

Crept  from  my  father's  grave,  and  played  about 

In  winding-sheets  upon  his  judgment-place. 

Then  you  are  a  colossus,  from  whose  hands 

Of  brass  I  never  issued.     You  have  me  hard 

Upon  the  bridle  and  you  fetter  me 

To  what  you  will.    You  have  cast  up  like  the  sea 

A  father  and  a  sister  and  a  life. 

And  you  have  sucked  down  under  like  a  sea 

A  father  and  a  sister  and  a  life. 

I  know  not  how,  unless  you  died  before  me, 

I  should  have  leave  to  die. 

CLYTEMNESTKA 

So  much  do  you  honor  me?    Is  there  yet  a  little 
Respect  in  you? 

ELECTBA 

Much,  much!    What  troubles  you 
Troubles  me  likewise.     Look  you,  why  it  irks  me 
To  see  JEgisthus,  who  is  your  husband,  wear 
[  28  ] 


ELECTRA 

The  cloak  my  father,  who  is  dead,  you  know, 
And  was  the  late  king,  wore.     It  irks  me  truly; 
I  find  it  sits  not  well  on  him ;   it  is 
Too  wide  across  the  shoulders. 


WAITING    WOMAN 

The  thing  she  says 
Is  not  the  thing  she  means. 

TSAIN    BEASEK 

False,  every  word. 

CLTTEMNESTEA,  to  them  scomfully 

I  will  hear  nothing.     That  which  comes  from  you 
Is  but  ^gisthus'  breath.     I  will  not  check 
At  all  things.    And  if  you  will  say  to  me 
What  pleases  me  to  hear,  then  will  I  hearken 
To  what  you  say.     The  very  truth  of  things 
That  no  man  brings  to  light.     There  is  on  earth 
No  man  that  knoweth  how  deep-hid  a  thing 
The  truth  is.    Are  there  not  in  prison  those 
That  call  ^gisthus  murder-monger,  me 
Murderess.''    And  if  I  wake  you  in  the  night 
Do  you  not  each  give  answer  otherwise.? 
Do  you  not  cry  out  that  my  lids  are  swollen 
And  I  am  sick  within,  and  that  all  this 
Is  but  that  I  am  sick.?    And  then  you  whimper 
Into  my  other  ear  that  you  have  seen 
Demons  with  long,  sharp-pointed  beaks  suck  out 
My  blood,  and  point  the  marks  out  on  my  body. 
[  29  ] 


ELECTRA  \ 

1 


And  I,  believing  you,  slay,  slay,  and  slay 
Sacrifice  upon  sacrifice?     Do  you  not 
Tear  me  to  death  with  sayings  and  answerings? 
I  will  hear  no  more !    This  is  truth,  this  is  falsehood. 
If  any  should  say  pleasant  things  to  me, 
Were  it  my  daughter  even,  were  it  she  there, 
Then  will  I  from  my  soul  take  off  all  veils, 
And  let  the  stir  of  the  soft  airs  come  in. 
Come  whence  it  may  come,  as  sick  people  do 
Who  sit  about  a  pool  at  eventide, 
Letting  the  cool  air  come  upon  their  bodies, 
Fevered  and  foul,  thinking  about  nothing 
Except  about  the  comfort.     So  will  I 
Begin  now  to  make  shift  for  my  own  self. 
Leave  me  alone  with  her. 

l^She  points  the  way  mto  the  house  zoith 
her  stick,  impatiently,  to  her  waiting 
WOMEN  and  teain  bearers,  they  dis- 
appear lingeringly  through  the  doorway. 

[The  torches  disappear  with  them,  and  only 
a  faint  light  falls  from  inside  the  house 
across  the  inner  court,  and  casts  bars  of 
shadow    over    the    figures    of    the    two 

WOMEN. 

clytemnestra,  after  a  pause 

I  cannot  sleep  at  night.    Do  you  not  know 
Some  remedy  for  dreams? 

electba,  coming  nearer 

I,  mother,  I? 
[  30  ] 


ELECTRA 

GLYTEMNESTEA 

Have  you  no  other  word  to  comfort  me? 
Unloose  your  tongue.    Ah,  yes,  I  dream.    We  age, 
And  as  we  age  we  dream.     But  that  indeed 
Can  be  cast  out.    Why  do  you  stand  in  the  dark? 
We  must  make  profit  of  the  powers  in  us 
That  now  lie  scattered.     There  are  certain  rites, 
There  must  be  proper  rites  for  everything. 
On  how  one  utters  a  mere  word  or  sentence 
Much  may  depend.     And  also  on  the  hour, 
And  whether  one  be  full  or  fasting.     Much 
Has  come  to  pass  because  at  the  wrong  hour 
One  stept  into  the  bath. 

ELECTBA 

Are  you  thinking  then 
About  my  father? 

CLYTEMNESTBA 

Therefore  I  am  so 
Behung  with  precious  stones.     In  every  stone 
There  lives  for  sure  a  virtue.     But  one  needs 
To  know  the  uses  of  them.     If  you  would, 
I  know  that  you  could  tell  me  what  would  aid  me. 

ELECTRA 

I,  mother,  I? 

CLYTEMNESTRA 

Yes,  you !    For  you  are  wise, 
Your  head  is  sound  and  strong.    You  talk  about 
Old  things  as  if  they  happened  yesterday. 
But  I  decay.    I  think.    But  one  thought  heaps 
[  31  ] 


ELECTRA 

Itself  upon  another.     And  if  I  open 
My  mouth,  then  cries  ^gisthus,  and  what  he  cries 
Is  hateful  to  me,  and  I  would  fain  rise  up, 
Be  stronger  than  his  words,  and  I  find  nothing. 
I  find  nothing!    I  do  not  even  know 
Whether  it  was  to-day  he  said  that  thing 
Which  shook  my  soul  with  fury,  or  long  ago. 
Then  I  grow  dizzy  and  know  nothing  more, 
Not  even  who  I  am ;   and  't  is  that  terror 
That  hales  me  living  into  the  abyss. 
And  he,  ^gisthus,  mocks  me,  and  I  find 
Nothing.     I  find  not  some  unspeakable  thing 
To  strike  him  silent  and  as  pale  as  I 
Staring  into  the  fire.     But  you  have  words. 
You  could  speak  many  things  to  bring  me  help. 
What  if  a  word  be  nothing  but  a  word? 
What  is  a  breath?    And  yet  there  creeps  a  some- 
thing 
Over  me  as  I  lie,  'twixt  night  and  day, 
With  open  eyes,  and  it  is  not  a  word, 
And  not  an  agony,  it  does  not  crush, 
It  does  not  choke  me,  but  it  lets  me  lie 
As  I  am  lying,  and  beside  me  there 
^gisthus  lies  and  there  —  the  curtain  is. 
And  all  things  look  at  me  as  if  it  were 
Out  of  eternity  in  to  eternity, 
And  it  is  nothing,  not  a  nightmare  even, 
And  yet  it  is  so  terrible  that  my  soul 
Hungers  to  hang  itself,  and  every  nerve 
Pants  after  death ;   and  yet  I  live  the  while 
And  am  not  even  sick;  look  on  me  now: 
Am  I  like  a  sick  woman?     Can  one  perish 
Living,  like  a  foul  carcase,  and  decay, 

[  32  ] 


ELECTRA  i 

Not  being  sick  in  anywise?    Decay  —  i 

With    waking   mind,    like   garments    moths    have  ^ 

eaten  ?  ? 

And  then  I  sleep,  and  then  I  dream,  and  dream 
That  all  the  marrow  is  molten  in  my  bones 
And  still  I  stagger  on,  and  not  the  tenth  j 

Of  an  hour's  running  water  has  run  out,  | 

And  that  which  grins  in  underneath  the  curtain 
Is  not  yet  the  dun  morning,  no,  but  always 
Only  the  torch  before  the  door,  that  starts  ] 

Horribly  hke  a  living  thing,  and  Ues  ^ 

In  wait  against  my  sleep.  ^ 

I  know  not  who  they  are  that  thus  oppress  me, 
And  whether  over  us  or  under  us 

Be  their  abode;   but  when  I  see  you  stand  i 

As  now  you  stand  before  me,  I  can  but  think 
That  you  are  also  in  the  game  with  them.  ' 

Only  who  are  you  then.''    You  have  not  a  word 
To  say,  now  when  one  listens  to  you.     How  i 

Shall  it  be  help  or  hurt  to  any  man  I 

Whether  you  live  or  die.?    Why  do  you  look 
So  hard  upon  me?    I  will  not  have  you  look  : 

Upon  me  so.     These  dreams  must  have  an  end. 
Whatever  demon  has  been  sent,  shall  leave  us 
When  the  right  blood  is  spilt. 

ELECTEA 

Whatever  demon?  i 

] 

CLYTEMNESTEA  ^j 

Though  I  should  let  the  blood  of  every  beast  ] 

That  creeps  and  flies,  and  in  the  steam  of  the  | 

blood 

[  33  ] 


ELECTRA 

Stand  up  and  go  to  sleep  there  as  folk  do 
In  ultimate  Thule  in  a  blood-red  mist. 
Yet  will  I  dream  no  more. 


ELECTBA 

When  there  shall  fall 
Under  the  axe  the  right  blood-offering 
Then  you  shall  dream  no  more. 

ciiTTEMNESTEA,  coming  nearer 

Ah,  then  you  know  — 
With  what  homed  beast  — 

ELECTRA 

With  an  unhomed  beast. 

CLYTEMNESTEA 

That  lies  within  there  bound? 

ELECTEA 

No,  it  goes  free. 

CLTTEMNE8TRA,  eagerly 
And  with  what  rites? 

ELECTEA 

Marvellous  rites,  that  ask 
A  strict  observance. 

[  34  ] 


ELECTRA 

CLYTEMNESTBA 

Speak  them! 


ELECTBA 

Can  you  not 

Divine  them? 

CLYTEMNESTBA 

No,  and  therefore  you  I  ask. 
The  name  then  of  the  offering? 

ELECTBA 

A  woman. 

CLTTEMNESTBA,    eagerly 

One  of  my  women?    Or  a  child?    A  maiden? 
A  woman  that  has  known  men? 


ELECTBA 

Yes,  known  men: 

CLYTEMNESTBA 


That's  it! 


How  then  the  offering,  and  what  hour, 
And  where? 


EliECTBA 


In  any  place,  in  any  hour 
Of  day  or  night. 

[  35  ] 


ELECTRA 

CLYTEMNESTEA 

Tell  me  the  rites,  and  tell  me 
How  they  are  served.    Must  I  myself  — 

ELECTBA 

This  time 
You  go  not  to  the  hunt  with  net  and  axe. 

CLYTEMNESTEA 

Who  then?    Who  offers  it? 

EI.ECTEA 

A  man. 


CLYTEMNESTEA 


^gisthus? 


ELECTBA,    laughs 

I  said  a  man ! 

CLYTEMNESTEA 

Who?    Answer.     Of  the  house? 
Or  must  he  be  a  stranger? 

ELECTEA,  lookmg  OS  if  absently  on  the  ground 

Yes,  yes,  a  stranger. 
But  surely  of  the  house. 

[  36  ] 


'ELECTRA  1 

CLYTEMNESTEA  \ 

i 

Read  me  no  riddles.  ] 

Electra,  hear  me.     You  are  not  so  stubborn  i 

To-day,  and  I  am  glad  of  it.    When  parents  ? 

Are  hard  upon  the  child,  it  is  the  child  i 
That  goads  them  into  hardness.     No  harsh  word 

Is  quite  irrevocable,  and  no  mother  '. 

If  she  sleeps  ill,  but  would  the  rather  think  ; 

That  her  child  lay  in  marriage-bed  than  bonds.  ■ 

ELECTRA,  to  herself  j 

How  different  with  the  child !  that  fain  would  think  j 
Her  mother  dead  rather  than  in  her  bed. 


CLYTEMNESTRA 

What  are  you  muttering.?     I  say  that  there  is 

nothing 
Irrevocable.     Do  not  all  things  pass 

Before  our  eyes  and  vanish  like  a  mist.-*  ', 

And  we  ourselves,  we  too,  we  and  our  deeds. 
Deeds !     We  and  deeds !     And  what  mere  words  ■ 

are  those!  ' 

Am  I  still  she  who  did  it?    And  if  I  am?  \ 

Done,  done !    What  kind  of  empty  word  is  this  f 

You  cast  into  my  teeth.?     There  stood  he,  whom  i 

You  speak  of  always,  there  stood  he  and  there  j 

Stood  I  and  there  ^gisthus,  and  from  our  eyes  -I 

Our  glances  struck  upon  each  other;   yet  ' 

Nothing  had  come  to  pass,  and  then  there  changed 
So  slowly  and  so  horribly  in  death 
Your  father's  eyes,  still  hanging  upon  mine; 

[  37  ]  \ 


ELECTRA 

And  it  had  come  to  pass ;   nothing  between ! 
First  it  was  coming,  then  it  had  gone  by, 
And  I  had  done,  between  coming  and  going, 
Nothing. 

ELECTRA 

No,  that  which  lies  between,  the  act, 
That  did  the  axe  alone. 


With  words ! 


CLYTEMNESTEA 

How  you  cut  in 

ELECTEA 


Yet  not  so  fit  nor  yet  so  fast 
As  you  axe-thrust  on  axe-thrust. 


CLYTEMNESTEA 

I  will  hear 
No  more  of  this.     Be  silent.     If  your  father 
Came  to  me  here  this  day  —  as  I  with  you 
So  would  I  speak  with  him.     It  may  well  be 
That  I  would  shudder,  yet  it  may  well  be 
That  I  would  weep  and  be  as  kind  to  him 
As  if  we  were  old  friends  that  met  together. 

ELECTEA,   to  herself 

Horrible!   she  speaks  of  murder  as  if  it  were 
A  squabble  before  supper. 

[  38  ] 


ELECTRA 

CLYTEMNESTRA 

Tell  your  sister 
She  need  not  run  away  into  the  dark 
Out  of  my  sight,  like  any  frightened  dog. 
Tell  her  to  greet  me  in  more  friendly  wise. 
And  talk  with  me  in  quiet.     For  in  truth 
I  know  not  why  I  should  not  give  you  both 
In  marriage  before  winter. 

EliECTKA 

And  our  brother.'' 
Will  you  not  let  our  brother  come  home,  mother? 

CliYTEMNESTBA 

I  have  forbidden  you  to  speak  of  him. 

ELECTEA 

You  are  afraid  of  him. 

CLYTEMNESTEA 

Who  says  it? 


EliECTEA 

Now  you  are  trembling. 


Mother, 


CLYTEMNESTEA 

Who  could  be  afraid 
Of  a  half-witted  fellow  ? 

[  39  ] 


ELECTRA 

ELECTRA 

What? 

CLTTEMNESTEA 

They  say 
He  stammers,  lies  about  among  the  dogs, 
And  cannot  tell  a  wild  beast  from  a  man. 

ELECTEA 

The  child  was  sound  enough. 

CLTTEMNESTEA 

They  say  he  has 
A  wretched  dwelling,  and  the  beasts  of  the  yard 
For  his  companions. 

ELECTEA 

Ah! 

CLTTEMNESTEA,    with  lowered  eyelids 

I  sent  much  gold 
And  yet  more  gold  that  they  should  use  him  well, 
In  all  things  as  the  son  of  a  King. 

ELECTRA 

You  lie! 
You   sent  the  gold  that  they  might  choke  him 
with  it. 

[  40  ] 


ELECTRA 

CLYTEMNESTEA 

Who  told  you  that? 

ELECTBA 

I  see  it  in  your  eyes, 
I  see  by  how  you  tremble  that  he  lives, 
And  that  you  think  of  nothing,  day  or  night. 
Except  of  him,  and  that  your  heart  dries  up 
With  deathly  dread  because  you  know  he  comes. 


CLYTEMNESTEA 

Lie  not.     What 's  that  to  me  who  bides  without 
The  house?    I  live  here  and  am  mistress.     Servants 
Enough  I  have,  that  watch  before  the  doors 
And  when  I  please  I  set  by  day  and  night 
Before  my  chamber  door  three  watchers  armed 
With  open  eyes.     All  this  you  tell  me  of 
I  do  not  even  hear.    I  do  not  even 
Know  of  what  man  you  speak.    And  I  shall  never 
See  him  again:   what  is  it  to  me  to  know 
If  he  be  dead  or  living?     In  very  deed 
I  have  had  enough  with  dreaming  of  him.    Dreams 
Are  like  a  sickness,  and  break  down  the  strength, 
And  I  will  live  and  be  the  mistress  here. 
I  will  not  have  such  seizures  of  the  soul 
As  send  me  hither  like  a  pedlar-woman 
To  blab  my  nights  out  to  you.     I  am  as  good 
As  sick,  and  sick  folk  tattle  of  their  ailments, 
That  *s  all.    But  now  I  will  be  sick  no  longer. 
And  I  will  wring  one  or  another  way  {she  shakes 
her  staff  at  electea) 

[  41  ] 


ELECTRA 

The  right  word  out  of  you.    You  have  already- 
Told  me  you  know  the  right  blood-offering 
And  the  due  rites  to  heal  me.     Say  it  not 
Free,  you  shall  say  it  fettered.     Say  it  not 
Full,  you  shall  say  it  fasting.     Dreams  are  things 
That  we  must  rid  ourselves  of.     He  that  suffers 
And  finds  no  means  of  healing  for  himself 
Is  nothing  but  a  fool.    I  will  find  out 
Whose  blood  it  is  must  flow,  that  I  may  sleep. 

ELECTS  A,  with  a  leap  out  of  the  darkness  upon 
her,  drawing  nearer  and  nearer  to  her,  more 
and  more  menacing 

What  blood  must  flow?     Out  of  your  neck,  your 

neck. 
When  that  is  caught  into  the  hunter's  noose. 
He  catches  you,  yet  only  in  the  chase, 
Who  offers  up  a  sacrifice  in  sleep? 
He  hunts  you  on,  he  drives  you  through  the  house ; 
And  if  you  turn  to  right,  there  stands  the  bed. 
And  if  you  turn  to  left,  there  foams  the  bath 
Like  blood ;   the  darkness  and  the  torches  cast 
Black-blood-red  nets,  the  death-nets,  over  you ! 

[cLYTEMNESTEA,  shaking  with  speechless 
horror,  would  go  into  the  house,  elec- 
ts a  pulls  her  towards  her  by  her  robe. 
CLYTEMNESTEA  draws  back  towards  the 
wall.  Her  eyes  are  wide  open.  Her  staff 
falls  from  her  trembling  hands. 

You  would  cry  out,  but  the  air  strangles  dead 
The  unborn  cry,  and  noiseless  lets  it  fall 
Upon  the  ground,  as  in  imagination 
[  42  ] 


ELECTRA 

You  reach  your  neck  and  feel  the  edge  of  the  blade 
Draw  near  the  seat  of  life.    Yet  still  the  blow 
Lingers ;   not  yet  are  all  the  rites  fulfilled. 
He  draws  you  by  the  tresses  of  your  hair, 
And  all  is  silent,  and  your  own  heart  you  hear 
Knock  at  your  ribs ;  this  time  (it  widens  out 
Before  you  like  a  dark  abyss  of  years) 
This  time  is  given  that  you  may  taste  and  know 
What  agony  is  that  of  shipwrecked  men 
When  their  vain  cry  devours  the  night  of  clouds 
And  death;   this  time  is  given  that  you  may  envy 
AU  that  are  chained  to  prison-walls  and  cry 
In  darkness  from  the  bottom  of  a  well 
For  death  as  for  deliverance;   because  you, 
You  lie  imprisoned  in  yourself  as  in 
The  glowing  belly  of  a  brazen  beast. 
And,  even  as  now,  cannot  cry  out.     And  I 
Stand  there  beside  you,  and  you  cannot  take 
Your  eyes  from  mine,  and  that  which  racks  you  is 
That  you  would  read  a  word  upon  my  face, 
A  word  that  there  stands  silent ;   and  you  roll 
Your  eyes,  and  you  would  catch  at  any  thought, 
Would  have  the  gods  grin  down  out  of  the  clouds ; 
The  gods,  they  are  at  supper,  now  as  when 
You  slew  my  father,  still  they  sit  at  supper. 
And  still  they  are  deaf  to  any  death-rattle. 
Only  the  half-crazed  God  of  Laughter  staggers 
In  at  the  door;   he  thinks  you  would  make  sport, 
You  and  ^gisthus,  at  the  shepherd's  hour ; 
But  when  he  sees  his  error,  of  a  sudden 
He  laughs,  loud-shrilling,  and  is  gone  in  a  trice. 
Then  have  you  had  your  fill ;   then  on  your  heart 
The  gall  drops  bitter,  then  at  the  last  gasp 
[  43  ] 


ELECTRA 

You  would  call  up  one  word,  any  mere  word, 
A  word  only,  instead  of  bloody  tears 
The  beast  is  not  denied  in  death;   and  there 
I  stand  before  you,  and  you  read  too  late 
With  rigid  eyes  the  word  unspeakable 
Written  upon  my  face;   because  my  face 
Is  mingled  of  your  features  and  my  father's, 
And  with  my  silent  presence  have  I  brought 
To  nought  your  last  word,  for  your  soul  indeed 
Has  hanged  itself  within  its  self-slung  noose. 
And  now  the  axe  falls  crashing,  and  I  stand 
Before  you  and  I  see  you  die  at  last. 
Then  do  you  dream  no  more,  then  do  I  ne^ 
To  dream  no  more ;  whoever  is  living  then, 
Let  him  rejoice  because  he  is  alive! 

\^They  stand  eye  to  eye,  electea  in 
the  wildest  intoxication,  clytemnestra 
breathing  horribly  with  fear.  At  this 
moment  the  entrance  hall  is  lighted  up,  and 
the  WAITING  WOMAN  comcs  out  running. 
She  whispers  something  in  clytemnes- 
tra's  ^ar.  At  first  she  seems  not  to  under- 
stand. Gradually  she  comes  to  herself. 
She  beckons:  lights!  serving  women 
with  torches  come  out  and  station  them- 
selves behind  clytemnestra.  She  beck- 
ons more  lights!  More  come  out  and 
station  themselves  behind  her,  so  that  the 
court  is  full  of  light,  and  a  red-gold  glare 
floods  the  walls.  Now  the  features  of  cly- 
temnestra slowly  change,  and  their  shud- 
dering tension  relaxes  in  an  evil  triumph. 
She  lets  the  message  be  whispered  to  her 
[  44  ] 


ELECTRA 

agam,  without  taking  her  eyes  off  elec- 
TRA.  Then  the  waiting  woman  lifts 
her  staff,  and,  leaning  on  both,  hurriedly, 
eagerly,  catching  up  her  robe  from  the 
step,  she  runs  into  the  house.  The  serv- 
ing women  with  the  lights  follow  her,  as  if 
pursued. 

ELECTRA,   during  this 

What   are  they  saying  to  her?     Why  does   she 

rejoice? 
O  my  head!     I  can  think  of  nothing.    What 
Can  give  the  woman  pleasure? 

[cHRYsoTHEMis  comes  running  to  the 
door  of  the  court,  crying  aloud  like  a 
wounded  animal. 

Chrysothemis ! 
Quick!     Your  help!     Tell  me  something  in  the 

world 
That  can  give  some  one  pleasure! 

CHRYSOTHEMIS,  shrieking 

Orestes !    Orestes ! 
Is  dead. 

Ei-ECTRA,  motions  her  away,  as  if  beside  herself 
Be  silent!! 

CHRYSOTHEMIS,  close  to  her 

Orestes  is  dead. 
[electra  moves  her  lips. 
[  45  ] 


ELECTRA 

I  came  out,  they  all  know  it  already.    All 

Are  standing  round,  and  they  all  know  it  already. 

Only  not  we. 

ELECTBA 

No  one  knows  it. 

CHEYSOTHEMIS 

All  know  it. 

ELECTEA 

No  one  can  know  it,  for  it  is  not  true. 

[cHEYsoTHEMis    flings    kersclf    on    the 
ground. 
{Raising  her.)     It  is  not  true!    I  tell  you  so;    I 

teU  you 
It  is  not  true. 

CHEYSOTHEMIS 

The  strangers  stood  beside  the  wall,  the  strangers 
Sent  to  bring  tidings  of  it;   there  are  two, 
An  old  man  and  a  young  man.     They  have  told  it 
To  all  of  them  already,  and  they  all  stand 
About  them  in  a  circle,  and  they  all 
Know  it  already. 


ELECTEA 

It  is  not  true. 
[  46  ] 


ELECTRA 

CHKYSOTHEMIS 

To  US 

Only  they  do  not  tell  it,  only  of  us 

Does  no  man  think.     Dead,  Electra,  dead! 

[^  YOUNG  SERVING  MAN  covies  hurHedly 
out  of  the  house,  and  stumbles  over  those 
lying  before  the  threshold. 

YOUNG    SERVING    MAN 

Room  there!   who  hangs  about  a  door  like  that? 
Would  one  have  thought  it?     Hey  there,  grooms, 
I  say! 

J[The  COOK  comes  from  a  doorway  on  R, 

COOK 

What  is  it? 

YOUNG    SERVING    MAN 

'T  is  a  groom  I  split  my  lungs  for, 
And  lo !  when  some  one  crawls  out  of  his  kennel 
Why,  it 's  the  cook ! 

\_An  OLD  SERVING  MAN  with  tt  gloomy 
face,  appearing  at  the  door  of  the  court. 

OLD    SERVING    MAN 

What 's  wanted  in  the  stable? 

YOUNG    SERVING    MAN 

Saddhng  's  what 's  wanted,  and  as  soon  as  may  be. 
Do  you  hear?    A  nag,  a  mule,  for  aught  I  care 
A  cow,  but  quickly. 

[47  ] 


ELECTRA 

OLD    SERVING    MAN 

Who  for? 

YOUNG    SERVING    MAN 

Why,  for  him 
That  orders  it.    No  gapes !    For  me,  but  quick ! 
At  once !    For  me !    Trot,  trot !    For  I  must  out 
And  off  to  field  to  fetch  the  master  home ; 
I  have  news  for  him,  great  news,  weighty  enough 
To  ride  a  jade  of  yours  to  death  for  it. 

l^The  OLD  SERVING  MAN  disappears. 

COOK 

What  is  the  news?    A  word? 

YOUNG    SERVING    MAN 

A  word,  good  cook, 
Would  certainly  instruct  you  little.    Also 
To  put  it  altogether  in  one  word 
All  that  I  know,  and  all  I  have  to  tell 
The  master,  would  be  difficult:   enough 
To  tell  you  that  the  news  has  newly  come 
Of  matters  of  the  highest  moment,  news  — 
The  old  fossil  takes  his  time  to  saddle  up !  — 
Which,  as  a  faithful  servant  of  the  household 
Should  give  you  joy,  whether  you  know  't  or  not, 
It 's  all  one,  it  should  give  you  joy. 

[^Shouting  in  the  hall. 
A  whip, 
Rascal !  do  you  think  one  rides  without  a  whip  ? 
You  keep  me  waiting  and  not  I  the  nag.     (To  the 
COOK,  preparing  to  rush  out.) 
[  48  ] 


ELECTRA 

Well,  in  a  word,  then :  the  young  lad  Orestes, 
The  son  of  the  house,  who  never  was  at  home, 
And  thus  as  good  as  dead:   this  he,  in  short, 
Who,  so  to  speak,  was  dead  already,  is 
Now,  so  to  speak,  really  and  truly  dead.      {He 
rushes  out.) 

[The  COOK,  turning  to  eI/Ectra  and 
CHEYsoTHEMis,  who  He  pressed  to  each 
other  like  one  hody,  which  the  sobs  of 
CHEYSOTHEMIS  shakc,  and  from  which 
ELECTBA  raises  her  death-pale  silent  face. 


COOK 

Ah !  now  I  have  it !    Dogs  howl  to  the  moon 
When  she  is  at  her  full ;  you  howl  because 
For  you  't  is  always  new-moon.     Dogs,  when  they 
Trouble  the  peace  of  the  house,  are  driven  out. 
Take  heed,  lest  it  be  so  with  you. 


CHEYSOTHEMIS,  half  raising  herself 

Dead  in  a  strange  land,  dead,  and  in  his  grave 
In  a  strange  land !    Struck  from  his  horse,  dragged 
Along  the  ground!     Ah,  and  his  face,  they  say, 
Not  to  be  known.     But  that  we  never  saw 
His  face;    for  when  we  think  of  him  we  see  him 
As  when  he  was  a  child.     He  was  a  man. 
And  did  he  long  for  us  before  he  died? 
I  could  not  question,  there  were  so  many 
Standing  all  round  about  them.     Now,  Electra, 
We  must  go  in  and  talk  with  these  two  men. 

[  49  ] 


ELECTRA 

ELECTBA,  to  herself 
Now  must  the  deed  be  done  by  us. 


CHBYSOTHEMIS 

Electra, 
We  will  go  in ;   there  are  two  of  them,  one  old 
And  one  much  younger ;  when  they  come  to  know 
That  we  are  the  two  sisters,  the  poor  sisters, 
Then  they  will  tell  us  alL 

EliECTBA 

What  is  there  now 
That  it  can  profit  us  to  know?    We  know 
That  he  is  dead. 

CHBYSOTHEMIS 

That  they  should  not  have  brought  us  even  one 

look, 
One  little  lock  of  hair !    As  if  we  were 
No  longer  in  the  world,  now,  you  and  I! 

ELECTBA 

Therefore  must  we  now  show  them  that  we  are. 

CHBYSOTHEMIS 

Electra? 

ELECTBA 

We!  we  both  must  do  it. 
[60] 


ELECTRA 

CHBYSOTHBMIS 

What, 
Electra? 

EI.ECTBA 

Best  to-day,  and  best  to-night. 

CHEYSOTHEMIS 

What,  sister? 

ELECTBA 

What?    The  work  that  now  on  us 
Falls,  because  now  he  cannot  come,  and  that 
Which  is  to  do  may  not  remain  undone. 

CHB.YSOTHEMIS 

What  is  the  work  then? 

ELECTBA 

Now  must  you  and  I 
Go  in  and  slay  the  woman  and  her  husband. 

CHEYSOTHEMIS 

Sister,  you  do  not  mean  our  mother? 
[  61  ] 


ELECTRA 

EL.ECTBA 

Her, 

And  also  him.    This  thing  must  now  be  done 
Without  delay. 

[cHaYsoTHEMis  reviams  speechless. 
Be  silent.     There  is  nothing 
To  say,  nothing  to  think,  but  how?    But  how 
We  are  to  do  it. 

CHEYSOTHEMIS 

I? 

ELECTEA 

Yes,  you  and  I. 
Who  else  then?    Has  our  father  other  children 
Hidden  here  in  the  house,  and  will  they  come 
And  help  us?    No.    So  much  at  least  I  know. 

CHEYSOTHEMIS 

Must  both  of  us  go  in?    Both  of  us  two? 
And  with  our  both  hands? 


ELECTEA 

Let  me  look  to  that. 

CHEYSOTHEMIS 


If  you  had  even  a  knife  — 
[  62  ] 


ELECTRA 

ELECTEA,  contemptuously 
A  knife  — 

CHEYSOTHEMIS 

Or  even 
An  axe  — 

ELECTEA 

An  axe !    The  axe  wherewith  our  father  — 

CHEYSOTHEMIS 

You  terror!    What,  you  have  it? 

ELECTKA 

For   our  brother 
I  kept  it.    Now  must  we  make  use  of  it. 

CHEYSOTHEMIS 

You,  you,  Electra!    These  arms  slay  ^gisthus? 

ELECTEA 

First  him,  then  her :  first  her,  then  him ;  no  matter. 

CHEYSOTHEMIS 

I  am  afraid.    You  are  beside  yourself. 
[  63] 


ELECTRA 

ELECTRA 

They  have  no  man  to  sleep  before  their  door. 

CHBYSOTHEMIS 

What,  murder  them  in  sleep,  and  then  Uve  on? 

ELECTBA 

The  question  is  of  him  and  not  of  us. 

CHSYSOTHEMIS 

What  can  have  put  this  madness  in  your  head? 

ELECTBA 

A  sleeping  man  is  a  bound  offering. 
If  these  sleep  not  together  I  can  do  it. 
But  you  must  come  too. 

CHBYSOTHEMIS,  thrusttng  her  away 
O  Electral 

ELECTBA 

You! 
For  you  are  strong.     {Close  to  her.) 

How  strong  you  are !    To  you 
Have  virgin  nights  given  strength.    How  lithe  and 

sUm 
Your  loins  are,  you  can  slip  through  every  cranny, 
Creep  through  the  window.   Let  me  feel  your  arms ; 
How  cool  and  strong  they  are!    What  arms  they 
are 

[64  ] 


ELECTRA 

I  feel  when  thus  you  thrust  me  back  with  them. 
Could  you  not  stifle  one  with  their  embrace? 
Could  you  not  clasp  one  to  your  cool  firm  breast 
With  both  your  arms  until  one  suffocated? 
There  is  such  strength  about  you  everyivhere. 
It  streams  hke  cool  close  water  from  a  rock, 
It  flows  in  a  great  flood  with  all  your  hair 
Down  your  strong  shoulders. 


CHBYSOTHEMIS 

Let  me  go. 

ELECTEA 

No,  no! 
I  hold  you,  and  with  my  poor  wasted  arms 
I  clasp  your  body,  and  if  you  resist 
You  only  draw  the  knot  tighter  about  you. 
I  will  wind  myself  about  you,  I  will  sink 
My  roots  into  you,  and  ingraft  my  will 
Into  your  blood. 

CHBYSOTHEMIS 

Let  me  go !    {Escapes  a  few  steps,) 

ELECTBA,  wildly  after  her^  clinging  to  her  dress 

No! 

CHBYSOTHEMIS 

Electra ! 
Let  me  go! 

[  65  ] 


ELECTRA 

ELECTEA 

I  will  not  let  you  go. 
We  must  so  grow  together,  that  the  knife 
That  would  cut  off  your  life  from  mine,  must  deal 
Death  to  us  both,  for  now  are  we  alone 
Together  in  this  world. 

CHBYSOTHEMIS 

Electra,  hear  me, 
You  are  so  wise,  help  us  to  get  free  away, 
Help  us  to  get  free. 


ELECTEA,  without  hearing  her 

You  are  full  of  strength. 
You  have  sinews  like  a  colt,  your  feet  are  slender, 
And  I  can  halter  you  with  both  my  arms. 
I  feel  through  all  the  coolness  of  your  skin 
The  warm  blood  flowing,  and  against  my  cheek 
The  down  on  your  young  arms :  you  are  as  a  fruit 
The  day  it  ripens.     I  will  be  your  sister 
As  I  have  never  been  your  sister  yet ! 
I  will  sit  beside  you  in  your  room 
And  wait  upon  your  bridegroom,  and  for  him 
Will  I  anoint  you,  and  you  like  a  young  swan 
Shall  plunge  into  an  odorous  bath  and  hide 
Your  head  upon  my  breast,  till  he  shall  draw  you 
With  his  strong  arms  (you  glowing  like  a  torch 
Through  all  your  veils)  into  the  marriage-bed. 

[  66  ] 


ELECTRA 

CHBYsoTHEMis,  shuttkig  her  eyes 

No,  sister,  no,  speak  no  such  words  as  that 
Within  this  house. 

ELECTEA 

Yes,  I  will  from  this  day 
Be  more  than  sister  to  you,  I  will  serve  you 
And  I  will  be  a  slave  to  you.    And  if 
You  be  in  travail  I  will  stand  beside 
Your  bed  by  day  and  night,  and  I  will  ward 
The  flies  from  off  you,  draw  cool  water  for  you: 
And  if  some  day  there  lie  upon  your  bosom 
A  Uving  thing,  half  fearful,  I  will  lift  it 
So  high  above  you  that  its  smile  shall  fall 
Into  the  deepest  and  most  secret  clefts 
Of  your  sad  soul,  and  the  last  icy  horror 
Shall  melt  before  that  sun  and  you  shall  weep 
Bright  tears. 

CHBYSOTHEMIS 

O  take  me  out  of  it !    I  die, 
I  die  in  this  house. 

ELECTEA,  kneeling  before  Tier 

Your  mouth  is  beautiful, 
Although  it  open  only  to  be  angry. 
Out  of  your  clean,  strong  mouth  there  must  come 

forth 
A  terrible  cry,  terrible  as  the  cry 
Of  the  Death  goddess,  when  a  man  shall  lie 
[  57  ] 


ELECTRA 

As  close  to  you  as  I  do ;  when  a  man 
Wakening  shall  see  you  standing  at  his  head 
Like  the  Death  goddess ;  when  a  man  shall  lie 
Bound  under  you,  and  so  look  up  at  you, 
Up  at  your  slender  body  with  his  eyes 
Rigid  and  set,  as  shipwrecked  men  look  up 
At  the  high  cliff  above  them,  ere  they  die. 


CHBYSOTHEMIS 

What  are  you  saying? 

ELECTRA,  rismg 

What  you  have  to  do 
Before  you  escape  this  house  and  me. 

[cH&YsoTHEMis  tries  to  speak. 

(Putting  her  hand  over  her  mouth.)    Noway 
But  this  way.    And  I  will  not  let  you  go 
Till  you  have  sworn  to  me,  mouth  upon  mouth, 
That  you  will  do  it. 

CHBYSOTHEMIS,  freeing  herself 
Let  me  go ! 

ELECTRA,  seizing  her  again 

Then  swear 
You  will  come  to-night,  when  all  is  still,  to  the  foot 
Of  the  staircase. 

[  68  ] 


ELECTRA 

CHRYSOTHEMIS 

Let  me  go! 

ELECTBA 

Girl,  no  denial! 
There  's  not  a  drop  of  blood  that  shall  be  left 
Upon  your  body ;   swiftly  shall  you  slip 
Out  of  the  bloody  garment  with  clean  body 
Into  the  bridal  garment. 

CHBYSOTHEMIS 

Let  me  go! 

ELECTRA 

Do  not  be  such  a  coward  I    That  which  now 
Shakes  you  with  shudderings  shall  reward  you  then 
With  shudderings  of  rapture,  night  for  night. 

CHRYSOTHEMIS 

I  cannot. 

ELECTRA 

Say  that  you  will  come. 


CHRYSOTHEMIS 


ELECTRA 


I  cannot. 


See,  see,  I  lie  before  you.    I  kiss  your  feet. 
[  69  ] 


ELECTRA 

CHEYsoTHEMis,   Tushing  to  the  inner  door 
I  cannot! 


ELECTUA,  after  her 

Be  accursed! 
(To  herself  with  determination.)  Then  alone! 

[She  begins  to  dig  hurriedly  at  the  wall  of 
the  house,  beside  the  threshold,  noiselessly, 
like  an  animal.  She  pauses,  looks  about 
her,  and  goes  on  digging. 

[oRESTES  stands  in  the  door  of  the  court, 
showing  black  against  the  last  rays.  He 
comes  in.  electea  looks  at  him.  He 
turns  slowly,  until  his  glance  falls  upon  her. 
ELECTEA  starts  violently  and  trembles. 

What  would  you,  stranger?     What  has  sent  you 

here 
At  the  hour  of  dark  to  spy  what  others  do? 
It  may  be  you  have  something  in  your  mind 
You  would  not  any  other  spied  upon. 
Therefore  leave  me  in  peace.     I  have  a  thing 
To  do  here.    What  is  that  to  you?    Go  hence, 
And  let  me  root  about  among  the  earth. 
Do  you  not  follow  me?   or  have  you  then 
A  mind  too  curious?     I  bury  nothing 
But  something  I  dig  up  again.     And  not 
The  death  bones  of  a  little  child  I  buried 
A  day  or  two  ago.     No,  my  good  fellow, 
I  have  given  life  to  nothing,  I  have  nothing 
[  60  ] 


ELECTRA 

To  kill  or  bury.    If  the  body  of  the  earth 
Have  taken  anything  out  of  my  hands 
'T  is  what  I  have  come  forth  from,  nothing,  truly, 
That  had  come  forth  from  me.   I  dig  up  something, 
And  you  shall  scarcely  pass  out  of  this  light 
Before  I  have  and  hug  and  kiss  it  over 
As  if  I  held  in  it  both  my  dear  brother 
And  my  dear  son,  and  both  of  them  in  one. 


OEESTES 

Have  you  then  nothing  dear  to  you  on  earth 
That  thus  you  scratch  a  something  out  of  earth 
That  you  may  kiss  it.?    Are  you  quite  alone .f* 

ELECTEA 

I  am  no  mother,  and  I  have  no  mother. 

No  sister  am  I,  and  I  have  no  sister, 

I  lie  at  the  door  and  yet  am  not  a  watch-dog, 

I  speak,  and  yet  I  hold  no  speech,  I  live 

And  Hve  not,  have  long  hair  and  therewithal 

Feel  nothing  that  they  say  all  women  feel; 

In  short,  I  pray  you,  go  and  leave  me !    Leave  me ! 

ORESTES 

I  have  to  wait  here. 


ELECTEA 

Wait? 


[^  pause. 
[  61  ] 


ELECTRA 


One  of  the  maids? 


OBESTES 

You  are  of  the  house? 

ELECTEA 


I  serve  here  in  the  house. 
But  what  have  you  to  do  here?    Go  your  way. 


OBESTES 


Did  I  not  tell  you  I  have  to  wait  here 
Until  they  call  for  me? 


ELECTBA 


The  folk  within? 
You  lie.  I  know  the  master  is  from  home. 
And  what  should  she  want  with  you? 


OBESTES 

I  and  one 
Here  with  me  have  an  errand  to  the  lady. 

[electea  t*  silent. 
We  are  sent  to  her  because  we  can  bear  witness 
That  we  have  seen  her  son  Orestes  die, 
Before  our  eyes,  for  his  own  horses  killed  him. 
I  was  as  old  as  he,  and  his  companion 
By  day  and  night ;  the  other,  an  old  man, 
Who  comes  with  me,  had  charge  of  both  of  us. 
[62  ] 


ELECTRA 


ELECTEA 


Why  is  it  you  I  look  on?    Why  must  you  I 

Into  my  poor,  sad  corner  trail  yourself,  j 

O  herald  of  misfortune?     Can  you  not 

Trumpet  your  tidings  forth  where  men  rejoice? 

You  live,  and  he,  that  was  a  better  man 

And  nobler  thousandfold  and  thousandfold 

Wiser  and  weightier  when  he  lived,  is  gone.  , 

Your  both  eyes  stare  at  me  and  his  are  clay ; 

Your  mouth  opens  and  shuts,  and  his  is  stopped  ' 

With  earth.     Would  I  could  stop  yours  with  my  *; 

curses ! 
Get  you  out  of  my  sight.  5 

ORESTES 

What  would  you  have? 
Here  in  the  house  they  welcome  it  with  joy.  , 

Let  then  the  dead  be  dead.     Let  be  Orestes. 
Orestes  is  now  dead,  and  death  must  come  [ 

To  all,  as  to  Orestes.    He  in  his  hfe 
Joyed  over  much;   and  the  gods  over  us 
May  not  endure  too  clear  a  sound  of  joy, 
Too  loud  a  rush  of  wings  at  evening  ] 

They  will  not  suffer,  and  they  seize  an  arrow 
And  nail  the  creature  fast  to  the  dim  tree  ; 

Of  his  dark  fate,  that  has  been  long  time  growing  i 

For  him  in  quiet.     Thus  had  he  to  die.  1 

'I 

ELECTEA  ■■ 

How  he  can  talk  to  one  of  Death,  this  fellow ! 
As  if  he  had  tasted  it,  and  spat  it  forth. 
But  I,  but  I,  that  lie  here  and  that  know  '> 

[  63  ]  i 


ELECTRA 

The  child  will  never  come  again,  but  they 
That  are  within,  these  live  now  and  rejoice 
And  all  their  breed  shall  live  on  in  its  hole 
And  eat  and  drink  and  sleep  and  multiply. 
Whilst  the  child  down  in  his  deep  pit  of  clay 
Longs  for  his  father,  and  no  father  comes. 
And  only  I  am  here  above,  and  not 
A  beast  in  all  the  forest  lives  as  I  do, 
So  monstrous  and  so  lonely. 


ORESTES 

Who  then  are  you? 

EI.ECTEA 

What 's  that  to  you  who  /am?  have  I  asked 
Who  you  are? 

ORESTES 

I  can  only  think  one  thing; 
You  are  of  kindred  blood  with  those  who  died 
With  Agamemnon  and  Orestes? 

ELECTRA 

Kindred? 
I  am  that  blood,  that  brutishly  spilt  blood 
Of  the  King  Agamemnon.    I  am  called 
Electra. 


[  64  ] 


No! 


ELECTRA 

ORESTES 
EliECTEA 


Why,  he  denies  it  me. 
He  flouts  me  and  he  takes  from  me  my  name. 
Because  I  have  no  father  and  no  brother 
I  am  the  laughing-stock  of  boys,  the  butt 
Of  every  fool  that  comes  my  way,  and  now 
They  will  not  leave  me  even  my  name. 

OEESTES 

Electra 
Is  younger  by  ten  years  than  you.    Electra 
Is  tall;   her  eyes  are  sad,  yet  soft,  but  yours 
Are  full  of  blood  and  hatred.    Electra  dwells 
Apart  from  men,  and  all  her  day  goes  over 
In  tending  of  a  grave.     Two  or  three  women 
She  has  about  her,  silent  helpers,  beasts 
GHde  shyly  round  her  dwelling,  and  creep  up 
Against  her  garment  as  she  goes. 

ELECTRA,  clapping  her  hands 

True !    true ! 
Tell  me  more  pretty  stories  of  Electra 
And  I  will  tell  them  to  her,  when  —  {with  choking 
voice)  I  see  her. 

ORESTES 

Do  I  then  see  her?    Do  I  really  see  her? 
You !     {Hurriedly. ) 

Have  they  let  you  starve  then  ?    Beaten  you  ? 
[  66  ] 


ELECTRA 

ELECTRA 

Who  are  you  with  your  many  questions? 

ORESTES 

Tell  me! 
Tell  me!    Speak! 

ELECTRA 

Both !  both !  both !    Queens  do  not  thrive 
Fed  on  the  refuse  of  the  kitchen-heap, 
And  priestesses  were  never  made  to  bound 
Under  the  lash,  and  in  such  short  poor  rags 
Instead  of  flowing  garments.     Let  my  dress  be; 
You  shall  not  wallow  in  it  with  your  eyes. 

ORESTES 

Electra ! 
What  have  you  done,  what  have  you  done  with  your 

nights  ? 
Your  eyes  are  terrible. 

ELECTRA,  sullerdy 

Go  into  the  house. 
I  have  a  sister  in  there,  who  may  by  now 
Be  ready  for  the  feast. 


ORESTES 

Electra,  hear  me! 
[  66  ] 


ELECTRA 


ELECTRA 


I  will  not  know  who  you  are !  you  shall  come 
No  nearer  to  me.    I  will  see  no  man.     {She  cowers 
with  her  face  against  the  wall.) 


OKESTES 


Listen !    I  have  no  time.    Listen,  I  dare  not 
Speak  loud.     Listen  to  me:   Orestes  lives. 

[electra  flings  herself  round. 
Utter  no  sound.    If  you  but  make  a  movement 
You  wiU  betray  him. 


ELECTRA 

Is  he  free?   where  is  he? 
You  know  where  he  is  hidden.?   he  is  caught, 
And  in  some  corner  somewhere  waits  for  death? 
I  am  to  see  him  die,  and  you  are  sent 
That  you  may  draw  my  soul  as  on  a  rack 
Up  with  a  rope,  and  dash  it  to  the  ground. 


ORESTES 

He  is  as  sound  as  I  am. 

ELECTRA 

Then  deliver  him 
Before  they  kill  him.    Can  you  not  give  a  sign? 
I  kiss  your  feet ;  give  him  a  sign,  a  sign ! 

[  67  ] 


ELECTRA 

I  charge  you  by  your  father's  corpse  you  run 
As  swiftly  as  you  can  run  and  bring  him  forth. 
The  child  would  die  if  he  should  pass  one  night 
Within  this  house. 


OEESTES 

Nay,  by  my  father's  corpse, 
For  this  thing  came  the  child  into  the  house 
That  they  this  night  should  die  who  are  to  die. 

E  LEG  TEA,  strucTc  by  his  tone 

Who  are  you? 

[The  gloomy-faced  old  servant  comes 
noiselessly  into  the  court,  throws  himself 
down  before  okestes,  kisses  his  feet,  rises, 
looks  anxiously  round,  and  goes  noiselessly 
hack. 

E  LEG  tea,  scarcely  controlling  herself 
O,  who  are  you?    I  am  afraid. 

OEESTES,  softly 

Do  the  dogs  know  me  that  are  in  the  yard, 
And  not  my  sister? 

ELEGTEA,  cries  out 

Orestes!    {Throws  herself  in  his  arms  and  sobs.) 
[  68  ] 


ELECTRA 

OEESTEs,  feverishly 

If  any  man 
Has  heard  you  in  the  house,  he  holds  my  life 
Within  his  hand. 

ELECTRA,  quite  low,  quivervngly 

Orestes !   no  man  heard. 

0  let  my  eyes  look  on  you!    Do  not  touch  me. 
Go  on  your  way.     I  am  ashamed  before  you. 

1  do  not  know  how  you  can  look  at  me. 

I  am  nothing  but  the  corpse  now  of  your  sister. 

My  poor  child,  and  I  know  you  shudder  at  me. 

And  yet  I  was  the  daughter  of  a  King. 

I  think  that  I  was  beautiful;    and  when 

At  night  before  my  mirror,  I  blew  out 

The  lamp,  I  felt,  and  with  a  maiden  thrill 

My  naked  body  through  the  heavy  night 

Shine,  as  a  godly  thing  immaculate. 

I  felt  myself,  as  the  thin  moonbeams  wrapt 

Me  round  in  their  white  nakedness,  as  in 

A  consecration,  and  my  hair,  such  hair 

As  men  might  tremble  at,  this  hair  now  soiled 

And  draggled  and  brought  low:    this!     See,  my 

brother. 
How  I  have  offered  up  unto  my  father 
This  thrill  of  soft  delight.     Do  you  think  if  I 
Had  pleasure  of  my  body,  that  his  sighs 
Would   not   throng   on   me   and   his   groans   not 

throng 
About  my  bed?    For  jealous  are  the  dead. 
And  he  has  sent  me  hatred  for  a  bridegroom, 

[  69  ] 


ELECTRA 

Hollow-eyed  hatred.     And  that  horrible  thing, 
Breathing  a  viperous  breath,  had  I  to  take 
Into  my  sleepless  bed,  that  it  might  teach  me 
All  that  is  done  between  a  man  and  wife. 
The  nights,   woe 's  me,   the  nights  when   that   I 

fathomed ! 
Then  was  my  body  cold  as  ice,  yet  charred 
As  if  with  fire,  and  burning  inwardly. 
And  when  at  last,  at  last  I  knew  it  all, 
Then  I  was  wise,  and  then  the  murderers  — 
My  mother,  I  mean,  and  he  that  is  with  her  — 
Could  not  endure  to  look  into  my  eyes. 
Why  do  you  gaze  at  me  so  anxiously? 
Speak   to   me,    speak!      Why,   your   whole   body 

trembles. 


OBESTES 

My  body?    Let  it  tremble.    Do  you  not  think 
That  he  would  tremble  otherwise  than  this 
Could  he  but  guess  the  way  I  mean  to  send  him? 


ELECTSA 

Then  you  will  do  it!    You  will  do  it  alone? 
O  you  poor  child,  have  you  no  friend  with  you  ? 


ORESTES 

Speak  nothing  more  of  it.     My  foster  father 
Is  with  me.    Yet  the  doer  shall  be  I. 


[  70  ] 


ELECTRA 


ELECTRA 


I  have  never  seen  the  gods,  only  I  know 

They  will  be  with  you  there,  and  they  will  help  you. 

ORESTES 

What  the  gods  are,  I  know  not.  Yet  I  know 
That  they  have  laid  this  deed  upon  my  soul. 
And  they  will  spurn  me  if  I  shudder  at  it. 

ELECTEA 

Then  you  will  do  it? 

OEESTES 

Yes.    I  must  not  look 
My  mother  in  the  eyes  before  I  do  it. 

ELECTRA 

Look  upon  me,  what  she  has  made  of  me. 

[oRESTEs  looks  at  her  sadly. 
O  child,  O  child,  stealthily  have  you  come, 
And  speaking  of  yourself  as  of  one  dead, 
And  yet  you  are  alive ! 

ORESTES,  softly 

Take  heed! 

ELECTRA 

Who  then 
Am  I  that  you  should  cast  such  loving -looks 
Upon  me?    See,  I  am  nothing.    All  I  was 

C  71  ] 


ELECTRA 

I  have  had  to  cast  away :   even  that  shame 

Which  is  more  sweet  than  all  things,  and  like  a  mist 

Of  milky  silver  roimd  about  the  moon 

Is  about  every  woman,  and  wards  off 

Things  evil  from  her  soul  and  her.     My  shame 

I  have  offered  up,  and  I  am  even  as  one 

Fallen  among  thieves,  who  rend  off  from  my  body 

Even  my  last  garment.     Not  without  bridal-night 

Am  I,  as  other  maidens  are;  I  have  felt 

The  pangs   of  child-bearing;    yet  have  brought 

forth 
Nothing  into  the  world,  and  I  am  now 
Become  a  prophetess  perpetually, 
And  nothing  has  come  forth  out  of  my  body 
But  curses  and  despair.     I  have  not  slept 
By  night,  I  have  made  my  bed  upon  the  tower. 
Cried  in  the  court,  and  whined  among  the  dogs. 
I  have  been  abhorred,  and  have  seen  everything, 
I  have  seen  everything  as  the  watchman  sees 
Upon  the  tower,  and  day  is  night  and  night 
Is  day  again,  and  I  have  had  no  pleasure 
In  sun  or  stars,  for  all  things  were  to  me 
As  nothing  for  his  sake,  for  all  things  were 
A  token  to  me,  and  every  day  to  me 
A  milestone  on  the  road. 


OEESTES 

O  my  sister! 

ELECTKA 

What  will  you  do? 

[72] 


Like  you? 


ELECTRA 

ORESTES 

Sister,  is  not  our  mother 


ELECTBA,  wildly 

Like  me?    No,  no.    But  you  are  not 
To  look  her  in  the  face.     When  she  is  dead 
We  '11  look  into  her  face  together.     Brother, 
She  cast  a  white  shirt  round  about  our  father 
And  then  she  struck  at  that  which  lay  before  her 
Helpless  and  without  eyesight,  and  his  face 
He  could  not  turn  to  her  nor  set  his  arms  free  — 
Do   you    hear   me?  —  that   she   struck   with   axe 

upHfted 
High  over  him. 

OEESTES 

Elect  ra ! 

ELECTEA 

What  her  face  is 
Her  deeds  have  made  it. 

OEESTES 

I  will  do  the  deed, 
And  I  will  do  it  quickly. 

ELECTEA 

Happy  is  he 
Dares  do  the  deed !    The  deed  is  like  a  bed 
On  which  the  soul  reposes,  like  a  bed 
[73  ] 


ELECTRA 

Of  balsam,  where  the  soul  can  take  its  rest, 
The  soul  that  is  a  wound,  that  is  a  bHght, 
A-running  and  a-burning. 

[The  FOSTER  FATHER  of  OEESTES  stauds 

in  the  door  of  the  inner  hall,  a  strong  gray- 
beard  with  flashing  eyes. 

Brother,  who  is  this? 

FOSTER   FATHER,  hastily  to  them 

Are  you  both  mad?    You  do  not  better  bridle 
Your  lips,  when  now  a  breath,  a  noise,  a  nothing 
Might  ruin  us  and  our  work. 


ELECTRA 

Who  is  this  man? 

ORESTES 

You  do  not  know  him  ?    If  you  love  me,  thank  him. 
Thank  him  that  I  am  here.     This  is  Electra. 

ELECTRA 

You !    You !    O  now  it  is  all  real,  and  all 
Safe  and  fast-knotted!     Let  me  kiss  your  hands. 
I  know  not  if  the  gods  are,  I  know  not 
Anything  of  the  gods:   therefore  the  rather 
I  kiss  your  hands. 

FOSTER    FATHER 

Be  still,  be  still,  Electra. 
[  74  ] 


ELECTRA 


ELECTUA 


No,  I  will  make  rejoicing  over  you, 

Because  you  have  brought  him  hither.     When  I 

hated 
Then  I  kept  ample  silence.     Hate  is  nothing. 
It  wastes  and  wastes  itself  away,  and  love 
Is  lesser  even  than  hate,  it  grasps  at  all  things 
And  can  take  hold  on  nothing,  and  its  hands 
Are  flames  that  take  no  hold  on  anything; 
All  thought  is  nothing,  and  as  the  powerless  air 
Is  everything  that  comes  out  of  the  mouth: 
Blessed  alone  is  he  that  does  his  deed. 
Blessed  is  he  who  touches  him,  and  digs 
The  axe  out  of  the  earth  for  him,  and  holds 
The  torch  for  him,  and  opens  the  door  wide 
For  him,  and  he  who  listens  at  the  door. 


rosTEE   FATHER,  setzcs  her  roughly  and  lays 
his  hand  over  her  mouth 

Silence!     (To  guestes,  precipitately.) 

She  waits  for  you.     Her  women  come 
To  seek  you.    There  is  no  man  in  the  house, 
Orestes ! 

[orestes  draws  himself  up,  subduing  his 
dread.  The  door  of  the  house  is  lighted 
up,  and  a  serving  woman  appears 
with  a  torch;  behind  her  the  waiting 
WOMAN.  EXECTRA  has  sprung  bacic,  and 
stands  in  the  darkness.  The  waiting 
WOMAN  makes  obeisance  before  the  two 
strangers,  and  signs  to  them  to  follow 
[  75  ] 


ELECTRA 

her.  The  serving  woman  fastens  the 
torch  into  an  iron  ring  in  the  door-post. 
ORESTES  and  his  foster  father  go  in. 
ORESTES  shuts  his  eyes  for  a  moment,  as 
if  dizzy;  the  foster  father  is  close  he- 
hind  him,  they  exchange  a  quick  glance. 

[The  door  shuts  behind  them. 

[electra  is  left  alone  in  intolerable  sus- 
pense. She  runs  to  and  fro  before  the  door 
with  bowed  head,  like  a  wild  beast  in  its 
cage.     Suddenly  she  stands  still  and  says 

ELECTRA 

I  have  not  given  him  the  axe. 
They  have  gone  in,  and  I  have  not  given  him  the 

axe! 
There  are  no  gods  in  heaven. 

[Once  more  a  fearful  waiting.  There  is 
heard  from  rvithin,  shrilly,  the  cry  of  cly- 
TEMNESTRA.  ELECTRA  shrieks  like  a 
demon. 

Strike  again! 

[A  second  cry  from  within.  From  the 
servants'  quarters  on  L.  comes  chrys- 
oTHEMis  and  a  troop  of  serving 
WOMEN,  electra  stands  m  the  door, 
her  back  against  it. 

CHRYSOTHEMIS 

Something  has  happened! 

[  76  1 


Like  that. 


ELECTRA 

7IEST     WAITING    WOMAN 

She  cries  out  in  her  sleep 


SECOND   WAITING  WOMAN 


There  must  be  men  within.     I  hear 
The  feet  of  men. 


THIED    WAITING    WOMAN 

They  have  bolted  all  the  doors. 

FOURTH     WAITING    WOMAN 

It  is  murder,  there  is  murder  in  the  house. 

FIKST  WAITING  WOMAN,   CrieS  OUt 

0! 

ALL 

What  is  it? 

FIBST   WAITING  WOMAN 

Don't  you  see ! 
There  is  some  one  at  the  door. 

CHEYSOTHEMIS 

It  is  Electra.    O,  it  is  Electra! 
[  77  ] 


ELECTRA 

SECOND   WAITING  WOMAN 

Why  then  does  n't  she  speak? 

CHEYSOTHEMIS 

Electra,  why 
Do  you  not  speak? 

FIRST    WAITING   WOMAN 

I  will  go  and  fetch  men.     {Runs  out  to  L.) 


Open  the  door. 


CHBYSOTHEMIS 

Electra, 

OTHEBS 

Let  US  into  the  house, 
Electra ! 

[first   WAITING-  WOMAN,   coming  back 
through  the  door  of  the  court. 

FIRST    WAITING   WOMAN 

Back! 

[all  start. 
^gisthus!     Back  to  our  quarters. 
Quickly,     ^gisthus  is  coming  through  the  court. 
If  he  finds  us  and  finds  out  what  has  happened 
In  the  house,  he  will  kill  us. 
[78  ] 


ELECTRA 


ALL 

Back,  quickly,  come  back! 
[^GisTHUs  at  the  entrance  on  R. 

^GISTHUS 

Is  no  one  here  to  light  me?    None  of  all 

The  rascals  stirring?     Shall  we  never  teach 

These  people  manners? 

[electea  takes  the  torch  out  of  the  ring, 
runs  down  towards  him,  and  bows  before 
him. 

(Starting  at  the  indistinct  figure  in  the  flickering 
light  and  stepping  back.)  What  is  this  weird 
woman  ? 

I  have  forbidden  any  unknown  face 

To  come  into  my  presence. 

{Recognizing  her,  angrily.)    What,  is  it  you? 

Who  bade  you  come  to  meet  me? 

ELECTRA 

May  I  not  light  you? 

^GISTHUS 

Well,  well,  this  news  concerns  you  more  than  any. 
Where  shall  I  find  the  strangers  who  have  brought 
These  tidings  of  Orestes? 

ELECTSA 

They  are  within. 
A  kindly  hostess  have  they  found,  and  find 
Their  entertainment  with  her. 

[  79  ] 


ELECTRA 


iEGISTHUS 


Have  they  brought 
True  tidings  of  his  death,  tidings  that  are 
Not  to  be  doubted? 


ELECTEA 


Lord,  these  tidings  are 
No  hollow  words  but  tokens  bodily, 
Tokens  it  is  impossible  to  doubt. 


iBGISTHUS 


What  have  you  in  your  voice,  what  has  come  to  you 
That  you  will  speak  to  me  out  of  your  mouth? 
Why  do  you  stagger  about  there  with  your  light? 


ELECTEA 

Merely  for  this,  that  I  have  become  wise 

At  last,  and  turn  to  them  that  are  the  stronger. 

Have  I  your  leave  to  light  you? 

AGISTHUS 

To  the  door. 
Why  are  you  dancing?    Have  a  care,  there! 

ELECTEA,  circling  him  in  a  weird  dance,  and 
suddenly  making  a  deep  bow  to  him 

Mind, 
The  steps !    You  '11  f aU. 

[  80] 


ELECTRA 

^GISTHUS 

Why  is  there  no  light  here? 
Who  are  these? 

ELECTBA 

They  are  those,  Lord,  that  desire 
To  wait  on  you  in  person.    And  I,  who  have 
By  my  unseasonable  and  bold  approach 
Often  been  irksome  to  you,  now  at  last 
Will  learn,  at  the  right  moment,  to  withdraw. 

[^GisTHUs  goes  into  the  house. 
[A  short  silence.  At  the  same  moment 
^GisTHus,  at  a  little  window  on  R.,  tears 
away  the  curtain  and  cries 

iEGISTHUS 

Help !  murder !  help  your  master !  murder !  murder ! 
Help !  they  are  murdering  me ! 

[^He  is  dragged  away. 
Does  no  one  hear  me? 
No  one  hear  me? 

'[His  face  appears  again  at  the  mndow, 

ELECTBA,  drawing  herself  up 

Agamemnon  hears  you! 

j:gisthus,  dragged  away 

Woe's  me! 
[electba    stands    bade    breathing   fear- 
fully,   turned    towards    the   house.      The 
[  81  ] 


ELECTRA 

WOMEN  run  out  wUdly.  cheysothemis 
among  them.  Ummttmgly  they  run  for- 
ward to  the  door  of  the  outer  court.  Then 
they  stop  suddenly  and  turn  hack. 


CHEYSOTHEMIS 

Electra!    Sister!   come  with  us! 

Come  with  us  now !    Our  brother  is  in  the  house, 

Is  it  Orestes  who  has  done  it? 

[Confusion  of  voices,  turmoil  without. 
Come! 
He  is  in  the  outer  hall,  they  are  all  about  him. 
They  kiss  his  feet ;   and  all  of  them  that  hated 
jfEgisthus  in  their  hearts  have  fallen  upon 
The  others,  everywhere  in  all  the  court 
The  dead  are  lying,  all  who  live  are  drenched 
With  blood,  they  wound  themselves,  they  beam, 

they  all 
Embrace  each  other  — 

[Outside  the  noise  increases^  the  women 
run  out.  cheysothemis  is  left  alone. 
Light  from  without  penetrates  within. 

And  shout  with  joy  and  kindle 
A  thousand  torches.    Do  you  hear?    Do  you  hear? 

ELECTEA,  crouching  on  the  threshold 

Do  you  think  I  do  not  hear?    Do  I  not  hear 
Music  within  me?    The  thousands  who  bear  torches 
And  whose  unbounded  myriad  footsteps  make 
A  hollow  rumbling  over  all  the  earth, 

[  82  ] 


ELECTRA 

All  wait  upon  me,  and  well  I  know  they  wait 
That  I  may  lead  the  dance;   and  yet  I  cannot 
Because  the  ocean,  the  vast  manifold 
Ocean,  lays  all  its  weight  on  every  limb ; 
I  cannot  raise  myself  from  under  it. 

CHRYsoTHEMis,  olmost  shrieMng  with 
excitement 

Do  you  not  hear,  they  carry,  they  carry  him 
Upon  their  hands,  their  faces  are  all  changed, 
All  eyes,  and  the  old  cheeks  glisten  with  tears. 
All  weep,  do  you  not  hear  them?  —  Ah! 

[She  rims  out. 
[electra  has  raised  herself.  She  steps 
down  from  the  threshold,  her  head  thrown 
back  like  a  Mcenad.  She  lifts  her  knees, 
stretches  out  her  arms;  it  is  an  incredible 
dance  in  which  she  steps  forward. 
[cHEYsoTHEMis  appearing  again  at  the 
door,  behind  her  torches,  a  theong,  faces 

of  MEN  and  WOMEN. 

Electra ! 

ELECTEA,  stands  still,  gazing  at  her  fixedly 

Be  silent  and  dance.     Come  hither  all  of  you! 
Join  with  me  all!    I  bear  the  burden  of  joy, 
And  I  dance  before  you  here.    One  thing  alone 
Remains  for  all  who  are  as  happy  as  we; 
To  be  silent  and  dance. 

[She  does  a  few  more  steps  of  tense  tri- 
umph, and  falls  a-heap.     cheysothemis 
[  83  ] 


ELECTRA 

nm»  to  her.  electea  lie»  motionless. 
CHRYsoTHEMis  ruTis  to  the  door  of  the 
house  and  knocks. 


CHEY80THEMIS 

Orestes !     Orestes ! 

{SUence. 


CUSTAIN 


The  UniTersity  Press,  Cambridge,  U.  S.  A. 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY,  LOS  ANGELES 

COLLEGE  LIBRARY 

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